Primal Light

What a poorly balanced attempt at a retro side scroller... The premise is neat, the level aesthetics are cool, even the character is cool. There are secret areas with power-ups and that's also cool. Unfortunately, the cool stuff stops there. There are so many QoL features missing from this title, that are found in similar style games from 30 years ago. Remember in Castlevania IV how you could spin your whip around? Or where you could jump and down attack? You could even attack diagonally. SotN with it's cool dash. Hell, even the original Donkey Kong Country had more to offer. Why can't I jump down attack? There's an up attack, but no down attack. I get that it's a retro-inspired game, but it's like some devs forget that new features are FUN. Adding small stuff like that doesn't make a game easier, it just makes them more FUN. Things were the way they were back in the 80s and 90s, and dear devs... it's OK to actually improve upon those things and add new stuff. This is just poorly rehashing stuff that already existed 30-40 years ago. There's also a roll dodge in this game. Guess what it does? Nothing. It does absolutely nothing. No i-frames, can't dodge through enemies... why do…

Bloodstained? More like Retrostained. Indeed, this action platformer that takes quite the inspiration from titles like Castlevania adding more movement options as well as a more refined pixel art presentation with bright colors and different scenarios unfortunately is stuck with a level design from the late 80s. Indeed, it features lots of annoying enemy placements that along with a knockback effect, pits and the hurdle to be combo-ed without enough time to recover delivers the blow to your progression in a frustrating way. Consequently, game overs end up being a recurrence and a hassle to deal with since the stages aren’t particularly short the first time around at least. Furthermore, with bosses that range in difficulty yet not in order as some have a clear pattern while others come off as more of a test in reflexes, the game shows it doesn’t have much of a focus at all. It’s a shame since the glimpses of a fine tuned and replayable action experience end up being overshadowed by its limitations by design. In fact, one would even be willing to go for a speedrun if you weren’t halted by very minor yet impactful details. In any case, it can certainly be playthrough and fini…

Worst game I've ever played. I regret buying this SO much. Gameplay is horrible, third stage boss is too damn hard. No way to return to previous stages to gather power ups. The controls are so janky that action-play is not possible, yet the game requires you to play it fluidly.

very good hidden gem!!

Excellent 16-bit era inspired sidescroller platformer/beat'em up with updated graphics and sound. Music is really good and fits each level well, the bosses are challenging but not too difficult (some are a bit harder than others). I quit after stage 5 because the standing dash makes the movement too fast paced and generic for my liking, and ideally the game should have ended around there for replayability sake (no-death run, speedrun etc.)

A nice little action platformer with a few minor hiccups here and there - but altogether quite an enjoyable experience! Would recommend.